Abortion foes slam Arizona clinics

Videos: More women seek gender selection

A national anti-abortion organization this week targeted Arizona clinics in its latest videos, alleging that women are increasingly seeking abortions based on their unborn child's gender.

Over the past year, abortion opponents have pushed the idea that sex-selection abortions are a growing trend in the U.S. and used the angle to propose both state and national legislation limiting abortion. But abortion defenders argue that there is no such trend, a contention most data supports.

The California-based group Live Action released three secretly recorded videos in the past two weeks depicting women who visited clinics pretending to seek an abortion based on the fetus' gender. The group shot the first two videos in Texas and New York clinics and the third in two Arizona clinics.

Arizona last year became the first state the nation to pass a law making it a crime for someone to perform an abortion knowing the mother sought the abortion based on the fetus' sex or race. Oklahoma, Illinois and Pennsylvania later passed similar laws.

"Sex-selective abortion is a global search-and-destroy mission against little girls that is spreading at an alarming rate," said Live Action President Lila Rose, adding that research and these videos prove it. "This is the most brutal form of gender discrimination."

The research cited by Live Action -- and the supporters of Arizona's law who spoke during hearings last year -- most often uses either worldwide data that focuses on countries such as China or India, or research that examines immigrants from those countries who now live in the United States.

U.S. studies, U.S. Census data and state data indicate that immigrants from India and China give birth to a disproportionate number of third and fourth children who are boys when their first two children are girls, possibly indicating this group practices sex selection via abortion. The studies show no disproportionate number of boys or girls being born to U.S. women in other situations.

The overall ratio of boys to girls born in the U.S. is about 1:1.

Women typically find out the sex of their child between the 16th and 20th weeks of pregnancy. According to Arizona's latest statistics, 377 of the 11,059 abortions in 2010 were done at 16 weeks or later in pregnancy. There is no data on why the women sought an abortion.

Opponents of the new abortion laws say that while gender selection via abortion does have a history in other countries, it is not a problem in the United States.

"These videos are being presented as evidence of a widespread problem of people using abortion to choose the gender of their child," said Jeremy Holden, research director with Media Matters, a non-profit Washington, D.C.-based organization that aims to debunk conservative information. "It's not happening. Just look at the fact that 92 percent of all abortions (nationally) happen before it's even possible to find out the gender of the baby."

Holden said the group is using the videos to push efforts to limit access to abortion.

The Live Action videos were shot at Camelback Family Planning in Phoenix and Tucson Women's Center. In both videos, a woman with a hidden camera tells staff she wants to have an abortion because of the fetus' sex. Staff at both clinics tell the woman state law forbids such abortions, but they continue to work with the woman on her paperwork and to set up future appointments. The woman does not have an abortion during those visits.

"It's so important that we test the industry to see if they are complying with the regulations meant to protect girls," Rose said. "Our investigation reveals that they are clearly in violation. They should be prosecuted and delicensed."

Rep. Steve Montenegro, R-Avondale, who wrote the 2011 law, said he was appalled by the video.

"Opponents claimed that sex-selection abortions were not being performed in Arizona," Montenegro said in a news release. "Their claims were obviously untrue."

Both clinics in the videos are independently owned and operated. The clinic doctors did not respond to e-mails seeking comment Friday afternoon. The clinics are members of the National Abortion Federation.

Federation President Vicki Saporta criticized Live Action's "questionable tactics" and said the group is known for selectively editing their videos to put out false information. While the edited videos are available on Live Action's protectourgirls.com website, longer versions also are on YouTube.

Live Action sent the video to Attorney General Tom Horne and local law enforcement. Rose said the state should prosecute the clinics.

The Attorney General's Office said it received the video, but nobody filed a formal complaint. Because there was no abortion performed, the Attorney General's Office said the clinics do not appear to violate the law in the video.

The Attorney General's Office and the Maricopa County Attorney's Office said no law-enforcement agency has submitted a case to them for prosecution under the state sex-selection abortion law.